Nobel's regrets on Peres award
Charlton Veston | 05.04.2002 20:23
Friday, 5 April, 2002, 11:58 GMT 12:58 UK
Nobel's regrets on Peres award
Fellow Nobel laureates: Rabin, Arafat and Peres Members of the Norwegian committee that awards the annual Nobel Peace Prize have launched an unprecedented verbal assault on Israeli Foreign Minister and Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres.
Mr Peres accepted the peace prize jointly with the
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel's late prime
minister, Yitzhak Rabin, in 1994.
Yes I wish it was possible to recall the prize Nobel Committee member Hanna Kvanmo
In an interview with a Norwegian newspaper, committee members said they regretted that Mr Peres' prize could not be recalled because, as a member of the Israeli cabinet, he had not acted to prevent Israel's re-occupation of Palestinian territory.
One member said Mr Peres had not lived up to the ideals he expressed when he accepted the prize.
"What is happening today in Palestine is grotesque and
unbelievable," said Hanna Kvanmo.
"Peres is responsible, as part of the government. He
has expressed his agreement with what [Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel] Sharon is doing," she said.
"If he had not agreed with Sharon, then he would have withdrawn from the government."
Oslo Bishop Gunnar Stalsett, a committee member for the past eight years, describes as "absurd" what he sees as
the involvement of a Nobel laureate in human rights abuses.
Other committee members argue that the Israeli government's actions in general and Mr Peres' involvement in particular
are threatening to bring the prize into disrepute.
Ms Kvanmo said however that "at the time, it was a
correct decision" to honour Peres.
"He was the one of the three that really deserved the
prize, because he took the initiative to the talks that
led to the Oslo accords," she said.
Committee chairman Geir Lundestad voiced the concern
of several members that if Mr Arafat were to be killed
as a result of Israeli actions, one Nobel laureate might
in effect be said to have killed the other.
Note form Mr veston
errr yeah right not 2 mention 'enry bleedin' Kissinger
currently No 1 war criminal , of course
Charlton Veston
Homepage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1912000/1912953.stm
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